Edge Intelligence Trends in the Retail Industry
Tue, 07 Feb 2023 22:58:02 -0000
|Read Time: 0 minutes
Retail and Edge Computing
In today's digital landscape, the integration of Retail and Edge Computing is becoming increasingly important. Retail encompasses the sale of goods and services both online and in physical stores, while Edge computing deals with processing and analyzing data close to its source of collection, rather than in a centralized location. The use of Edge computing in retail environments can improve Customer Experiences, optimize store operations, and support new technologies such as self-checkout and augmented reality systems. This leads to a mandate for real-time data analysis, allowing for a more personalized and seamless shopping experience for customers, as well as cost reduction and increased revenue for retailers. In this post, we will delve into the advantages of Edge computing and how they align with modern AI trends in the retail industry, serving as a reference to Dell's positioning and solutions for retail organizations to effectively utilize AI to meet business needs.
Leading Retail Edge AI Trends in 2023
Focus on AI uses cases with High ROI
Edge AI holds vast potential in a variety of industries with a high ROI in the form of automation of repetitive tasks, increased efficiency, and revenue growth. Edge AI can be used to analyze customer data and predict future purchasing patterns, leading to optimized product offerings and improved sales. Personalization through tailored marketing campaigns and personalized product recommendations can boost customer loyalty and repeat business. Edge AI can track Point of Sales (POS) and online shopping transactions inventory levels in real-time, identify discrepancies, and prevent stockouts, leading to cost savings and increased revenue. It can also be used to detect and prevent theft in retail environments, increasing profitability. The technology can be applied in smart shelves and robotics for inventory management and stocking shelves, resulting in increased efficiency and reduced labor costs.
Growth in Human and Machine Collaboration
Edge AI boosts human-machine collaboration in retail by automating tasks and powering virtual assistants, predictive analytics, sensors, and robots. These AI tools free up store staff for tasks requiring human skills, offer personalized information, optimize product offerings, track inventory, detect theft, and provide real-time data analysis and recommendations to improve the customer experience.
New AI Use cases for safety
Edge AI can be used to improve safety in retail environments in various ways. Edge AI-powered cameras and sensors can be used for real-time surveillance, helping to detect potential safety hazards such as spills or broken equipment. Edge AI can also be used for crowd management, analyzing data on foot traffic to identify patterns and optimize store layouts. In case of emergencies, Edge AI can detect potential incidents such as fires or gas leaks and send real-time alerts to emergency responders. Edge AI can be used to track inventory levels in real-time and monitor individual movements, detecting falls or accidents and alerting store staff or emergency responders. Edge AI can also be used for temperature monitoring in areas such as refrigerated storage to ensure safe temperatures and prevent food-borne illnesses. Real-time alerting can be done using Edge AI to ensure quick and effective responses to safety incidents.
IT Focus on Cybersecurity at the Edge
The retail industry is rapidly adopting Edge AI technologies to improve the customer experience and enhance operational efficiency. However, this increased reliance on Edge AI also creates new cybersecurity risks, as cyber criminals seek to exploit vulnerabilities in these systems. To address these challenges, retailers are increasing their investment in cybersecurity for Edge AI technologies. Some of the key trends in Edge AI cybersecurity for retail include the implementation of advanced security protocols, such as encryption and multi-factor authentication, to protect sensitive customer data. Another trend is the use of artificial intelligence to detect and prevent cyber threats in real-time, by analyzing data from Edge AI devices and network traffic. As Edge AI continues to become more widespread in the retail industry, the need for robust cybersecurity measures will only continue to grow, making it essential for retailers to stay ahead of the latest trends and best practices.
Connecting Digital Twins to the Edge
Edge AI can be utilized to create digital twins for various aspects of the retail environment, leading to improvements in store operations and customer experience. Retailers can create digital twins of store layouts to optimize product placement and simulate customer movement. Digital twins can also be created for inventory systems, smart shelves, and automated systems to optimize stock levels, predict demand patterns, and improve task efficiency and accuracy. Predictive maintenance can be performed by creating digital twins of equipment and infrastructure to avoid downtime. Edge AI also enables real-time monitoring of retail environments by creating digital twins and analyzing data, such as foot traffic and temperature, to inform better decision-making. Virtual reality applications can also be enhanced by creating digital twins of the store, providing virtual try-ons and product demonstrations to customers.
Importance of Edge Computing
Edge computing is becoming a crucial technology as the amount of data generated from devices and sensors continues to grow. By decentralizing and distributing computing, edge computing offers several advantages, including real-time processing with lower latency, improved efficiency, enhanced security, cost-effectiveness, and increased scalability.
Benefits
Low Latency: Edge computing enables near real-time processing for applications like self-driving cars, industrial automation, and IoT devices.
Improved Efficiency: By processing data near source, edge computing reduces data transmission, improving system efficiency and reducing data storage costs.
Improved Security: Edge computing protects sensitive data by processing it near source and analyzing it before transmitting to a centralized location, reducing data breach risks.
Cost-effective: Edge computing reduces costs by reducing the need for powerful servers and large data centers, and reducing data transmission and storage costs.
Increased Scalability: Edge computing allows decentralized, distributed computing, making it easier to scale systems as needed without infrastructure constraints.
Dell Solutions for Retail AI Edge Computing
Dell Technologies collaborates with a multitude of business partners to offer market-leading software integrated with its latest PowerEdge XR4000 infrastructure for Retail AI Edge Computing. These comprehensive solutions are carefully curated and validated through Dell's Validated Designs to support retailers in realizing their AI objectives and applications. In this discourse, we will delve into three distinctive solutions that pertain to the following areas: Manage and Scale AI at the Edge, Retail Loss Prevention, and Retail Analytics.
Nvidia Fleet Command – Manage Configurations and Scale AI at the Edge
Edge AI deployment introduces new opportunities with real-time insights at the decision point, reducing latency and costs compared to data center and cloud transfer. However, bringing Edge AI to retail pipelines can be challenging due to resource limitations. Fleet Command is a hybrid cloud platform for managing large-scale AI, including edge devices, through a single web-based control plane. With Fleet Command and Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, IT administrators can remotely control AI deployments securely and efficiently, streamlining deployment and ensuring resilient AI across the network.
Adaptive Compute
Dell Technologies' systems management enables fast response to business opportunities through intelligent systems that collaborate and act independently to align outcomes with business goals, freeing IT to focus on innovation. Fleet Command simplifies AI management through centralization and one-touch provisioning, reducing the learning curve and accelerating the path to AI.
Autonomous Management
Dell Technologies' systems management enables quick response to business opportunities with smart systems that act independently to align with business goals, freeing IT to focus on innovation. Fleet Command streamlines AI management with centralized, straightforward management and one-touch provisioning.
Proactive Resilience
Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, prioritize security throughout the infrastructure and IT setup, detecting potential risks. Fleet Command adds extra protection with integrated security features that secure application and sensor data, including self-healing capabilities to minimize downtime and reduce maintenance expenses.
Figure 1. Fleet Command Platform UI
RetailAI Protect by Malong Technologies – Retail Loss Prevention
The Retail Loss Prevention solution is driven by Dell EMC PowerEdge server in-store and uses advanced product recognition technology from Malong RetailAI® Protect. The aim of the Retail Loss Prevention architecture is to prevent fraud while maintaining a seamless customer experience. It is an AI-powered system that can detect mis-scans and ticket switching in near real-time, covering a wide range of stock keeping units (SKUs). The solution components are chosen based on their compatibility and enhancement of existing POS scanners. The Malong RetailAI Protect solution can prevent retail loss in two ways: ticket switching and mis-scans. The overhead fixed-dome camera records an item with a suspect UPC barcode or an item that wasn't scanned. The video is processed in a GPU and fed into the Malong RetailAI model to predict the item's UPC. If the item wasn't scanned, the Malong RetailAI Protect system alerts the self-checkout (SCO) system after a set time interval. If the scanned UPC doesn't match the correct code, the system immediately raises an alert for the retail associate to take appropriate action.
Figure 2. Examples of mis-scanning and ticket switching
Deep North Video Analytics– Retail Analytics
Deep North Video Analytics is a leading-edge platform that performs real-time and batch processing of images that are captured by cameras that are typically located in the ceiling of a retail environment. The Deep North platform ingests the images and feeds them directly into the memory of GPU cards that are installed in a Dell PowerEdge or Dell VxRail node. Each camera stream is analyzed frame by frame, and then the Deep North inferencing algorithms produce specific metadata. This metadata is then sent to the Deep North Analytics Cloud and converted into a dashboard that provides valuable information to the store owner.
Figure 3. Visualizations in a Deep North Analytics Dashboard
Dell is your partner in your AI Edge for Retail Journey
As AI continues to evolve, keeping up with the design, development, deployment, and management of AI solutions can be a challenge for organizations lacking AI expertise. That's where Dell Technologies comes in, as your trusted partner in the AI journey. With a decade of experience as a leader in advanced computing, Dell offers industry-leading products, solutions, and expertise to empower your organization. Our specialized team of AI, HPC, and Data Analytics experts are dedicated to helping you stay ahead of the curve, with a focus on Edge AI for Retail. Our experts can assist you in leveraging Edge AI to drive business outcomes, improve customer experiences, and increase operational efficiency. Trust Dell to help you stay at the forefront of AI innovation.
Customer Solution Center
The Customer Solution Center is a dedicated resource designed to provide customers with a comprehensive range of information, recommendations, and demonstrations of technologies and platforms that support AI. Our experienced staff are well-versed in the challenges faced by customers and offer valuable insight and guidance to help organizations leverage AI to its full potential.
AI and HPC Innovation Lab
The AI and HPC Innovation Lab is a state-of-the-art infrastructure staffed by an exceptional team of computer scientists, engineers, and Ph.D.-level experts. These specialists work in close collaboration with customers and the wider AI and HPC community to advance the field through early access to emerging technologies, performance optimization of clusters, benchmarking of applications, best practice development, and publication of industry thought leadership. By engaging with the Lab, organizations have direct access to Dell's leading experts, enabling them to tailor a customized solution for their unique AI or HPC needs.
Conclusion
Edge computing has become a crucial technology in the retail industry, allowing for real-time data processing and analysis close to the information source. This leads to improved customer experiences, optimized store operations, and new technology implementation, such as self-checkout and augmented reality systems. As data generation continues to grow, edge computing offers low latency, improved efficiency, enhanced security, cost-effectiveness, and increased scalability. Edge AI is at the forefront of retail trends, offering high ROI in the form of intelligent automation and improved efficiency, human-machine collaboration, new AI use cases for safety, a focus on cybersecurity at the edge, and the creation of digital twins for improved intelligent decision making.